Application management has become the subject of significant recent interest, not only because of the popularity of low cost communication links for personal computers but also because of the ready made access via a LAN to many application programs. Today, computer systems often have a plurality of bootable operating systems. Until this invention, a user could not install an application under a first bootable operating system and automatically enable the other bootable operating systems that were on the computer or bootable devices associated with the computer to employ the application. Rather, individual installations were required for each of the other operating systems.
An example of an US Patent for executing programs in a multi-mode microprocessor is U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,358 to Microsoft. This patent discloses a method and system for executing programs in two modes on a specific hardware platform. However, a single operating system is always operable and only one bootable device is discussed.
Remote processor initialization is also well known in the prior art. Remote processor initialization refers to the capability of downloading an Initial Program Load (IPL) sequence to a computer via a communication link. This process allows a remote computer to boot another computer in a predetermined manner. However, a single operating system is always operable and only one bootable device is discussed.